Lotteries are a form of gambling in which, at its simplest form, is based on drawing lots to determine a winner of a prize. There are numerous types of lotteries, including sweepstakes, in which the prize can be a fixed amount of cash or goods. The chance of winning this type of lottery is dependent on the number of players; the more players that purchase a lottery ticket, the less chance each player has to win the lottery. This format however, creates a risk to the organizer since if insufficient tickets are sold, not enough money will be raised to pay the cash or goods prize.
More commonly, the lottery prize will be a fixed percentage of the receipts from the purchase of the tickets, such as a 50% draw where the players are promised a prize of 50% of the revenue of the ticket sales. Again, the chance of winning the lottery is based on the number of players.
More recent lotteries, such as the multistate Power Ball and Mega Millions lotteries, allow purchasers to select the numbers on the lottery ticket, resulting in the possibility of multiple winners. The chance of winning these types of lotteries is dependent on the odds of picking the correct numbers that match those selected at the time of the drawing. However, there are so many numbers to select from that the chance of winning (or having multiple winners) is extremely low. Further, these lotteries will split the winnings between any players that pick the correct numbers. Regardless, even if the winners have to split the prize money, due to the low odds (and usually low purchase price) millions of players purchase these tickets and these types of lotteries generate millions and often tens or hundreds of millions of dollars for a single winner.
Another type of lottery ticket is known as the scratch off lottery cards or lottery tickets. These tickets are also known as scratch cards, scratch off tickets or instant tickets. The scratch off tickets usually contain a layout of prize amounts or symbols that, if displayed in a certain combination or in a certain number of similar amounts, are considered a winning ticket. The prize is determined by the prize amount listed in the winning combination or based on the symbols (and the particular rules of the game).
The scratch off tickets contain an opaque layer on top of the ticket results, so that the player cannot see the results until after they purchase the ticket and scratch off the top opaque layer. The scratch off layer is usually made from a latex material and can be scratched off with a fingernail, the end of a coin or some other object.
Scratch off lottery tickets have a different appeal than the sweepstakes type lottery games since a player can purchase the scratch off ticket and play instantaneously, and not wait for the sweepstakes drawing. These types of tickets provide instant gratification (if the player purchases a winning ticket). The manufacture or printing process for the tickets utilize various algorithms to emulate random play, different play styles and rules accompany the different types of scratch off tickets and the different prize amounts. Further, the scratch off tickets vary in size depending on the game play and price, but generally the tickets can be as small as two by four, and as large as four by eight.
These scratch off lottery tickets are a more recent development in the history of gaming, and while lotteries have been prominent throughout the world for hundreds of years or longer, scratch cards were invented in 1974, by John Koza and Daniel Bower.
Immediately, scratch cards became very popular games due to their ease and simplicity, and state lotteries found the scratch off games to be a complementary product to their main lottery business. Along with the larger paying lotteries, players could play these instant scratch off games and obtain immediate results.
One of the first scratch off lottery tickets, called The Instant Game, was launched by the state of Massachusetts in the mid 1970s. Many national and state lotteries caught on quickly and began to offer scratch off games. In 1987, Astro-Med, Inc. obtained U.S. Pat. No. 4,643,454 for an instant lottery ticket with a coating on the front side.
The Michigan Lottery became very active in scratch off instant games, giving lotto players a wide range of scratch cards to choose from with a price range from one dollar to twenty dollars. The United States became the leader in the popularity of scratch cards and in the quantity of instant games tickets sold. In around 1985, scratch off lottery tickets came to Europe, and as in the United States, became very popular. In the 1990s, the popularity of instant gratification of the scratch off lottery ticket came to the Internet.
There is currently no lottery ticket to mutually satisfy the player with multiple game play areas on a single lottery ticket card that incorporates the game play for each of the multiple game play areas as well as incorporating a game play for at least two of the game play areas for winning possibilities. There is also no method for manufacturing a scratch off lottery ticket with multiple game play areas on a single lottery ticket card that incorporates the game play for each of the multiple game play areas as well as incorporating a game play for at least two of the game play areas for winning possibilities.